On the road to public health workforce development in Puerto Rico and Florida

Rationale: A competent public health workforce is essential for a better performance. Educational strategies must address potential training barriers to foster commitment. Objective: Present Puerto Rico (PR) and Florida (FL) Departments of Health (DOH) Hispanic Public Health workforce perceived training needs. Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were done using equivalent questionnaires in samples of PR (n=1,414) and FL (Hispanics n=546) DOH personnel. Both inquired about demographics, educational background, perceived training needs, and self-perception of Public Health competencies (Council on Linkages). FL used an electronic survey while PR used a paper-pencil survey due to their limited access to electronic resources. Results: Results show that the most common perceived training barriers were lack of time (>80%, both sites) and lack of financial support (FL 83%; PR 64%). Most respondents reported having practical knowledge in Public Health (FL 49% and PR 53%) instead of formal education. In a scale from excellent to no skills, 42% of PR respondents perceived their computer literacy as poor/no skills as compared to 15% among FL respondents. In PR, 26% doesn't have access to a computer in their workplace, and a higher proportion (45%) reported access to Internet at home than at their workplace (16%). In FL, 60% have a computer for their exclusive use and 95% have access to Internet at their workplace. Conclusion: These results have been used to develop strategies to address these training barriers, among them a competency-based curriculum. Competency-based trainings will support DOH to become accredited and continuously improve the performance as health agencies.